National Republican., 1887-05-23
A BLIND INVENTOR.
ConstructinEa Magazine Gun and Oiher
Things without the Aid of Sight.

English Letter from Vienna
have had the opportunity Of meeting
the inventor OF new rifle, Herr Franz
Fortelka, former lieutenant in the Aus
trian army, who, during the first campaign
in Bosnia, received shot In his right eye,
which destroyed the optic nerve, and indi
rectly 30 affected the left eye that the poor
officer, now only 2S years old, has been for
the last nine years totally blind. But
without the use Of his eyesight this In
genious man has invented during these
years not only new magazine gun, but also
tive machines for the authorization OF Iron,
steel, and other metals at a cost which
must be called rldiculously small;
further, an apparatus for automatical nap.
ping, new mcrometer, o new sort OF
gunpowder, not to speak OF smaller inven.
tions which found their way Into the lesser
industrial establishments OF Vienna and
saved the inventor from starvation, as his
great discoveries, far from bringing him
money as yet, necessitate an outlay which
he can afford only by extreme personal
privations. "My rihe,n complained the un.
fortunate inventor, "would have long been
in the hands Of the British government had
the advanced money which | had obtained
from private person in London been more
than G20, which did not suffice for the
wages of one workman, who assists me,
and the necessary material.
snow at last It is finished, and though /
may fall into the fault OF all inventors,
consider 1t the best rifle existing, being with.
out the disadvantages OF other machine
rifles, and with many advantages over them.
/ can prove by my Austrian and German
patents OF some five years ago that the
straight pull system which distinguishes
every modern rifle, and In itself, without
the machine, secures the double effect, has
been my invention. Upon this and upon
other appropriations In the same line by
different successful inventors | do not lay
any stress. There Is my new rifle, which, In
short, has the follow ng advantages: 1t can
be used as a single loader even with an at
tached magazine; cartridges are not thrown
into the magazine In a loose form, but lie
one above the other, without the possibility
OF placing them wrongly; the maya
zine can be attached or not at
will; all parts are solid, no spiral
spring exists In the rifle; the price OF my
weapon with royalty and everything else
the exception Of Werdi's, can be used for
transformation into my rifle at a cost Of 8
or 10 shillings-less In the case OF Gras,
Mauser, Berdan, or Beaumont, and some
thing more In the case OF Henry Martini"
"And how can you make any invention,
especially such a complicated one as a
rifle, without, unfortunately, being able to
see the separate parts, and how are your
devices carried out by the workmen"
81 see with my fingers. And not In one
single case have they deceived me. It's
really curious that when great and minute
measurements are in question, those who
see with their eyes are wrong, and /, with
the use Of my fingers, am right. The
models for my machines against oxidation
of metals were entirely made by myself
string, wire, and bread crumbs. am now
devising very complicated electric ap-
paratus."